Chapter Nineteen A Tattered Book

  He let out a slight sigh, put the wallet aside, glanced at the time, and since there was still some time before the end of the fourth layer of Heat Wave in the mine, Xiao Hong began to ponder the matter of the pattern once again.

  According to Xiao Hong's current summary and analysis, in order to thoroughly master the technique of "wen zhong wen", three major problems must be solved. Firstly, knife work must be done with master-level precision. Secondly, the force used must be applied with a level of ease that is beyond ordinary people, which means achieving high accuracy. Thirdly, through various improvements, the stone slab must be able to bear the corresponding load without cracking.

  "What should I do?"

  Xiao Hong fell into deep thought once again. His knife skills could be improved through day and night practice, but training to control the precise manipulation of his mount was a different story. There were indeed books on this aspect of training, but they were extremely hard to find and somewhat precious, not something that could be obtained for less than a few hundred gold coins.

  As for how to improve the carrying stone, Xiao Hong still didn't have any ideas.

  "It's tough." Unconsciously, Xiao Hong let out a sigh and scratched his messy hair. At this moment, Xiao Hong truly realized how difficult it was to become a master, and he seemed to faintly feel that if he could really bring out the full potential of the "Ink in Ink" technique, not only would he be able to create battle tattoos, but also have great hope for treating his own strange illness.

  Dong, dong, dong.

  Just as Xiao Hong was at a loss, several soft knocks on the door suddenly entered his ears. From the knock, the person outside seemed to be extra careful, absolutely not Li Le, could it be the patient?

  He slowly got up and walked to the door, opening it with a casual hand. As a result, his expression changed again, and he saw that the old woman from this morning was standing outside the door.

  When he saw her, Xiao Hong's first reaction was that his partner must have had another problem, but after careful observation, he found that the old woman looked slightly relaxed and still showed gratitude to Xiao Hong.

  "Old lady, what's going on?" Xiao Hong asked with a puzzled face.

  "This, I give you," said the old woman, and from the rattan basket slung over her arm, she took out a book that looked worn and yellowed with age, and handed it to Xiao Hong.

  "This is for you..." Seeing the old woman hand over a book, Xiao Hong's mind was somewhat dizzy.

  "I just saw that your house is full of books, so I guess you're a book lover. As it happens, I have one at home too. It's said to be left by my great-great-grandfather. I'm illiterate and don't know if it's useful to you, but I'll give it to you as a token of goodwill." The old woman carefully placed the old book in Xiao Hong's hands.

  "This doesn't seem quite right." Xiao Hong was somewhat embarrassed for a moment: "This should be something passed down from your ancestors, and it should continue to be passed on to your children. To me? It's not very suitable, is it?"

  "My husband and I have no children, if we die, this book will probably turn to dust too. Rather than that, it's better to give it to you, Master Hong." The old woman continued, her tone slightly sorrowful.

  "Ah." He lowered his head to take a look at the book sent over by the old woman. The cover had already lost its original color, and the dust that had accumulated on it for a long time had obscured the title. He could vaguely make out a "wen" (pattern) character and a "de" (virtue) character, indicating that this book hadn't been highly valued in the old woman's household.

  After all, learning magic patterns, whether it's creating patterns or driving patterns, requires a large amount of money as support in the early stages. Poor families can't even think about it.

  "In that case, I'll accept it." Xiao Hong carefully examined the antique book again, then looked at the old woman with a smile. He was also aware that the old woman felt she owed him a favor and was uneasy about it.

  "I know that Master Hong is a good person, and I wish good people will be rewarded. I won't disturb Master Hong anymore." The old woman finished speaking and turned to leave.

  He glanced at the old woman's back, Xiao Hong didn't say anything else, retreated to his home, locked the wooden door, put the tattered book sent by the old woman on the table, leaned his body against the chair back, and stared at the ceiling, still thinking about the "texture within texture" matter.

  "Blade work, precise control, reinforced loadstone."

  This is Xiao Hong's most repeated words, still desperately thinking in his mind.

  Until noon at twelve o'clock, Xiao Hong still couldn't think of a reason, and his whole expression was somewhat disheartened, just like seeing a famous and expensive sword, but he couldn't wield it himself. This feeling made Xiao Hong feel very bad.

  Once again, Xiao Hong's gaze fell on the desk, and his eyes landed on that tattered old book on the desk, which was several hundred years older than him.

  Carefully turned over a page, the pages have turned yellow and brittle due to age, I estimate that as long as you are not careful, the pages will crumble, however, the text and patterns recorded in the book are very clear.

  Because he had read a large number of books, Xiao Hong only looked at the first page and knew that this was a relatively primitive book for recording the production of magic seals, a completely handwritten copy with no nonsense, concise and to the point, recording the basic knife skills for making magic seals.

  "Handwritten copy?" Xiao Hong couldn't help but utter a puzzled voice. Hundreds of years ago, the technology in the Taige universe was already quite advanced, yet they still used handwritten copies, which made Xiao Hong feel somewhat strange.

  Carefully look at the content and pattern above, it seems ordinary, just a relatively primitive weaving technique, with patterns on the side.

  However, when Xiao Hong looked at it carefully, his expression changed slightly. He found that although these patterns seemed ordinary and primitive, they were different from the books he had read about primitive magic tattoos before.

  Whether it's an S-shaped pattern or a large turning angle pattern, it seems to have its own unique place. If you say he is primitive, he is also a nonconformist in the primitive.

  Such a discovery made Xiao Hong suddenly interested, quickly sat up straight and studied it word by word.

  The more Xiao Hong studied, the stranger he felt. According to his understanding of the magic patterns, the style of this record was fundamentally impossible to fully understand, and yet the book recorded it with relish, the handwriting neat and tidy.

  "What is this guy doing?" Xiao Hong was already somewhat bewildered, from the tone of this guy's speech to his professional terminology, he didn't seem like an outsider at all, but rather gave people a sense of being old and cunning.

  Until the tenth page, the conventional carving knife method was finished. When Xiao Hong turned to the next page, his expression suddenly changed greatly. The eleventh page had only one pattern, which was a stone-carrying diagram. However, the shape of the fast-carrying stone was very different. There were magic lines on one side, and it was concave, just like a small basin.

  Seeing this shape of the stone, Xiao Hong understood in an instant that the seemingly impractical knife methods were all applied to the concave magic pattern.

  Turning back and re-examining the previous content, Xiao Hong can already determine that his previous guess was correct. If Zai Shi is concave, all of the above knife methods can be applied with ease.

  Further back, the book also describes the pros and cons of concave patterns. That is, in stones of equal volume, the surface used for carving will be larger, the magic pattern has more room to play, and the power is even more outstanding. The downside is that the production is complicated, whether it is creating magic patterns or driving magic patterns, extremely strong control accuracy is required, and it is not easy to get started.

  "Concave pattern..." Xiao Hong muttered to himself, his pupils moving slightly in their sockets. Then a flash of light flickered across his eyes. The edge of the Concave Pattern's carrier stone was naturally extremely thick and solid, which would also reinforce the edge of the carrier stone. It seemed that it could completely withstand the impact force of "Pattern within Pattern" on the edge of the carrier stone.

  For concave surface patterns, Xiao Hong still knows that they were used for a period of time hundreds of years ago. Later, due to the complexity of weaving and difficulty in driving, they gradually fell out of favor with people and entered an era where flat surface patterns became more popular and accepted by people. The craftsmanship of concave surface patterns also gradually disappeared.

  Before that, Xiao Hong was not without a solution to the concave pattern, but the knife method and injection of force for the concave pattern were different from those for the flat pattern. Without any reference, how could he use it?

  But now it seems different with this ancient book in front of me.

  What made Xiao Hong even more delighted was that when he flipped through the pages, he actually found several sets of methods for training precise control over his Qi. The first set was called Posture Training Method, which involved changing his body into different postures to allow his Qi to flow through various parts of his body and improve its precision.

  There's no doubt that this tattered book, to others, is no different from trash, but to Xiao Hong, it has been of great help.

  Without much hesitation, after carefully studying the postures training method, Xiao Hong began to practice on the ground, one by one, every movement was a strange posture, and the later ones were more difficult, which also had extremely high requirements for the strength, balance of ligaments and muscles.

  The first action, to complete it, is still relatively simple. Feet are shoulder-width apart, hands support the ground, and the other hand extends flat. Then mobilize the internal force, constantly circulating through every part of the body, allowing the whole person to enter a state of emptiness.

  So as to enable the trained driver to mobilize his power at will and with precision.

  After two hours of tentative contact, Xiao Hong had only practiced the third move, and his body was already somewhat unbearable, let alone being ill. However, Xiao Hong's body was extremely agile, but the fourth move was too perverted.

  That is with both hands supporting the ground, hind legs bent, lifted at a 45-degree angle, maintained for twenty minutes, and also in an empty state, mobilizing the driving force.

  Obviously, to complete such an action, balance is needed, but also strength, absolute strength!

  Because you want to complete the fourth action, so you need to strengthen your body through intense training!

  In order to apply the technique of "wen zhong wen" to Mo Wen as soon as possible, and create excellent battle patterns, Xiao Hong has made up his mind. The focus of recent training is on learning concave surface patterns, as well as training driving accuracy and knife skills.